Posted in On Being a Wife and Mother
Good Morning, Dear Reader! I hope this finds you relaxed and enjoying your week. I certainly am, as my children are with my parents in another state having a ball. I have been staying home almost exclusively since they left, as their activities are usually the only things that haul me out on a regular basis (besides grocery shopping, but who counts that? 
) I absolutely LOVE being at home, and am enjoying this time immensely. I am able to get to projects that I look at longingly when the boys are home, and feel a huge sense of accomplishment!
I have, however, happened upon a startling revelation this morning, Dear Reader, that gave me pause. I looked around my home and noticed that things were full. The dishes in my cupboard are all actually present and accounted for. Same for my drinking glasses. And silverware (can you tell I was in the kitchen?). And I began looking all around my home with new eyes, and realized that this is what I'm working toward every day that my children get older. Sure, we all dream of a home that gets clean and STAYS clean, but it doesn't end there. I can't explain it, but it made me sit down with shock that I DON'T want this all to end. I'm just beginning to get good at this mom thing, and I'm SO not ready for it to be done. I know, some of you are thinking I'm over-reacting, after all, my boys are only 12 and 8. And you'd be right, except for one thing.
Yesterday they were only 10 and 6.
Three days ago they were only 7 and 3.
And it breaks my heart how quickly time is rushing by, Dear Reader.
Everyone tells you to enjoy your children when they're born, because they grow too fast. You smile and say "I will," and think they've gone off their rocker. I mean, Look at that Baby. He's going nowhere fast, right? So you get caught up in the day-to-day details of life, knowing in the back of your head that YOU are going to do this right. YOU are going to do this perfectly the first time around, so you have no regrets. So you Wait. For the time to be Right to be Perfect.
And you Wait.
And you don't realize that every day with your children is Your Perfect Time. That every day you're sewing together the fabric of their childhood. Good, bad, or ugly, it's for Real, and it's a One-Time-Only shot.
And one day, you wake up, and you look back over the past 8, 10, 12 years and you want to cry. Because your babies are as tall as you, and you let yourself get caught up with chatting on the phone, or spent too much time on the computer, or a thousand and one other things that just DON'T MATTER in the grand scheme of raising your children. And you hang your head in shame, and then you.....
What?
What would you do?
That's what I want you to ponder, Dear Reader. What would you do? What should you do? What will you do?
I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to spend less time on this thing, no time on the phone, and I'm going to Enjoy My Children. And if God's plan is that we bring more children into this home, then I'm going to get on my knees and thank Him. Because then I'll know I've done right by my children.
Good luck, Dear Reader, and thank you for listening. This mama is going to wipe her tears up now, and start making changes.
Go play a game with your children... they're only lent to you for so very short a time.
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